Defiance Games USMC Marines!

[matakishi]

One of defiance's big things is the American angle, it always has been since Wargames Factory started. The biggest announcement noise originally with WF was that they were 'made in America' which solicited much rejoicing and flag waving on another forum. When it transpired they were made in China this was glossed over somewhat until the Chinese became the excuse for Tony getting booted out. At least Defiance Games figures are actually made in America and the trumpeting is justified this time around.
The USMC was a calculated move to enlist the homegrown support and I think it worked. It was a decent enough idea aimed at the target audience, good move. Perhaps not such a good move to use the USMC emblem as part of your marketing without clearance first. I doubt it would be a problem with a historical set, Warlord splash the emblem on their WWII Marines set and I doubt they have clearance either but there is quite a lot of precedence with historical kit makers using historical insignias and much has been made of recent (failed) moves to copyright tank and aircraft designs so kit manufacturers would have to pay royalties.
Defiance obviously think it'll be a problem as they've changed the name. Better to do it now than have the range recalled later, imagine the mess then.
This further delay has been caused by Frothers, not Defiance Games of course. Damn those pesky interfering kids!

[CptJake]

I don't disagree with you, who ever spent the time figuring out that was an issue is a mean spirited SOB.  I'm glad Tony adjusted quickly and this isn't gonna delay him too much if at all.

I do find the predicament funny though.   It wouldn't have happened to anyone else, and the fact it happened on this particular project, a project that has already had issues big and small, does hit my funny bone a little.


Don't feel bad about being disgusted at that.   My wife will tell you my sense of humor is very 'off'.   

[anevilgiraffe]

This further delay has been caused by Frothers, not Defiance Games of course. Damn those pesky interfering kids!

no no... it was Dakka... it said so on Facebook...

[Varangian]

I also wonder though just how much all this broo ha ha is actually worth to some people. Looking up Marine Corp copyright rules, please. The only reason to of done that would be to screw Defiance Games around. Sure they should of done their homework on it but fer christ sake I doubt the person who pointed that out is even connected with the Marine Corp in any fashion.
  

Well, that sort of copyright stuff could get hairy. The Marine Corps is pretty serious about it. There are a few businesses that had to revamp a lot of things, and since one of them makes all of its money selling Marine branded items it hurt pretty hardcore. There was actually a needed redesign for quite a few of their products. Going through the approval process takes some time. The Eagle, Globe and Anchor will have to be changed, or it still runs into the copyrighting issues.

For someone to try to blame Frothers is pretty sad. I really hope this isn't a a legit post from the company. I've been looking forward to these for quite some time, and would like to not do business with someone that would say that sort of thing and mean it.

[tnjrp]

All that being said I wish they would release these figs so we can end this long long long bet.

What with them having to redo the boxes now (which turn of events Matakishi predicted in a quite decent detail, I might add), it probably won't happen this week either.

[CptJake]

What with them having to redo the boxes now (which turn of events Matakishi predicted in a quite decent detail, I might add), it probably won't happen this week either.

I don't know.   They seem to have already changed the digital file the printer is going to need.  No real reason the printer can't execute his run on schedule (supposed to start today...)

Jake

[aliensurfer]

for the record, I don't think it was a regular frother who picked up on the USMC thing first, but it was a petty thing to do. On the plus side, nearly every few pages has some boobs on it (proper ones this time)

[tnjrp]

But of course... It's always the main challenger (such as it is) to the US supermacy. That, or the North Koreans

The plausibility of the DG's Alien Wars background fluff would really be a subject of another thread altogether of course.

[Xeno_RG]

For the record, the boxes are being printed this week, sprues are continuing to be produced, and they should be released next week (and it'll be a hectic few days boxing and mailing all that stuff, I'm sure). The change to the boxes was literally just inserting another digital file.

iirc, it was Matakishi who pointed out the copyright issue on Frothers and, really, it's my fault for not bringing it up as soon as it was pointed out. Honestly, given how often US military stuff appears in American toys and media, I was surprised copyright was an issue (though, in retrospect, it makes perfect sense).

[matakishi]

I did indeed mention it. I asked quite some time ago if Defiance needed permission and what do you know, they decided they did. Luckily for them they changed their boxes before they were sent out. Tony seemed happy that it was mentioned.
No 'internet scouring' involved (thanks Scurv), I looked up the Marines emblem on the internet to see if it was actually a Marine emblem on their boxes and, under the picture on Wikipedia, was the copyright notice. Not difficult to check really.

[matakishi]

I am a tit too, sometimes

[Varangian]

For the record, the boxes are being printed this week, sprues are continuing to be produced, and they should be released next week (and it'll be a hectic few days boxing and mailing all that stuff, I'm sure). The change to the boxes was literally just inserting another digital file.

iirc, it was Matakishi who pointed out the copyright issue on Frothers and, really, it's my fault for not bringing it up as soon as it was pointed out. Honestly, given how often US military stuff appears in American toys and media, I was surprised copyright was an issue (though, in retrospect, it makes perfect sense).

The copyrighting of the USMC's intellectual property has been pretty recent. (it feels odd to mention IP in regards to the military) I want to say the past six months, it might have been a little before that. So this is a seriously new issue, and it affected a lot of companies, many with product already being sold. Luckily, and I think to the Marine Corps' credit, the companies were given plenty of time to sell through merchandise before being hit with the new branding rules.

Yeah, branding rules. Part of the licensing agreement is that they have control over how the IP gets used.

The funds raised are supposed to go to MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) according to the program announcement. I cannot argue with that, that program can ALWAYS use more capital.

I'll definitely be placing an order over the next couple of months, even if it's not all official!

[tnjrp]

Seeing as the Marines are going out next week... It's going to be exciting to see if James Holloway will pull a win or if Commander Vyper takes the cake

[Steve F]

It's not just the USMC that are getting into IP.  For example, the Character Building (Lego knock-off) HM Armed Forces range is described on their web-site as "produced in conjunction with and ... endorsed by the Ministry of Defence".  Similarly, when Doctor Who was revived, the BBC found that they could no longer refer to UNIT as the "United Nations Intelligence Taskforce" because of UN trademarking of its own name.

It's getting that we soon won't be able to call each other by name without written permission and a copyright fee.

[CptJake]

The copyrighting of the USMC's intellectual property has been pretty recent. (it feels odd to mention IP in regards to the military) I want to say the past six months, it might have been a little before that. So this is a seriously new issue, and it affected a lot of companies, many with product already being sold. Luckily, and I think to the Marine Corps' credit, the companies were given plenty of time to sell through merchandise before being hit with the new branding rules.

Yeah, branding rules. Part of the licensing agreement is that they have control over how the IP gets used.

The funds raised are supposed to go to MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) according to the program announcement. I cannot argue with that, that program can ALWAYS use more capital.

I'll definitely be placing an order over the next couple of months, even if it's not all official!

Bull crap, pure and simple bull crap.

http://www.marines.mil/news/publications/Documents/MCO%205030.3B.pdf

Unles 1997 was 6 months ago...  And there were similar policies in effect even before that.  The actual approval process may evolve, and how they take payment and what they do with it may evolve, but the USMC has always been protective of their logo and associated imagery.